CHAPTER 54

“Ok I’m confused,” Vega said to her Sergeant who was sitting next to her in one of the forward holes that served as a close in observation post.

Taylor was busy with the drop down scope on his helmet. He had it patched in to a lot of extra com wire that he had liberated from battalion supply. Fortunately for him, that new guy Washburn, didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. He never missed any of it. Then Taylor and Vega, with a little help from the platoon, ran that wire all across their sector. They also had everybody strip their helmet cameras out and now those same cameras were hanging at advantageous points out in the fire zone. They were also attached to all that stolen wire. Taylor felt like the job had been similar to the time he set up a home stereo system that was, the last time he heard, still working just fine in the house that now belonged to his ex wife. He hoped the bitch was enjoying it.

The really hard part of the project had not been the stringing of the wire, or even, hooking up the cameras. That all went smooth and was done in a day. The hard part had been figuring out how to network the signals so you could watch the various feeds through your helmet visor. It had been an enterprising private first class who donated his useless cell phone, to the cause, and it had an app on it that seemed tailor made for what they were doing. Now they had their own television network!

Taylor was currently busy watching the shadows out there when Vega asked him whatever she had. He had to get her to repeat the question and that confused Ben even more, “call me the breeze?”

Vega was busy trying to make out her own images, “yeah, you were just mumbling it. What the fuck does it mean?”

“Oh,” Ben shrugged, “I was singing. It’s an old song.”

“Thirty thousand musicians out of work and you’re trying to sing,” Vega replied.

“What the…” Ben forgot all about the conversation. “We got something. Look at that, camera four!”

Vega was all thumbs as she tried switching over the feed. When she finally got the image she almost screamed when the image popped into view. Then she started panting, “is that what I think it is?”

“I don’t know,” Ben told her as he started recording. “I never seen nothing like that, at least nothing that wasn’t CGI.”

“What the fuck do we do?” Vega thought about it and then said, “I know, I’ll call in a mortar strike on it’s ass.”

“No,” Ben told her, “we’ll give away our position and besides, you‘ll nuke our camera and I want it back. I only see one and…” Ben blinked and then he blinked again, “where the hell did it go?”

Vega was as much at a loss as was Taylor, so, they both did the only thing that they could do. They watched and then they watched some more. This time, Ben kept his finger on the screen of the cell phone so he could hit it when he needed to record. His finger got tired before he was done.

Not long after, they were walking towards the TOC with Lieutenant Kholer leading the way. He had a huge grin on his face and Lolita could not figure out why. When questioned, the acting company commander of Delta had no problem spilling, “I keep getting shit on by battalion. This ought to set things right.”

Ben pulled the cigar out of his mouth just long enough to say, “don’t take it personal sir, that has become a Delta Company tradition.”

Vega then mumbled, “beats the fuck out of Alpha company’s tradition.”

“What your mouth Lieutenant,” Ben stated.

“Sorry sergeant,” Lolita told him, “I just meant that getting shit on beats the hell out of getting stomped to death by a dinosaur, that’s all.”

They reached the TOC, at that point, and Kholer talked with the guard for a moment who then left before returning to admit them inside the bunker. Kholer had decided not to call ahead since he knew that mentioning Vega’s name, on the phone, was enough to get perpetually ignored over here. Kholer quickly sought out their acting commander, Major Conner, who had taken charge since Colonel Pong went MIA. Nobody really believed that Pong was still alive. They all figured he was one of the piles of soup left behind by their dinosaur. Even the dog tags had not survived on some of those guys. The body’s had been airlifted out and maybe some DNA guy could figure it out. For now, Pong was still listed as Missing In Action.

Phil Conner saw who his new arrivals were and found that he was not in any hurry to talk with them. Conner simply pointed to a corner and said, “wait.” He then turned back to Katie Mack and told her, “this has nothing to do with your service Katie. You understand that right?” Then Phil reconsidered and told her, “actually, it has everything to do with your service. I know you have time and grade on Capps but, he’s better at that job and you’re better at running Bravo. Right now, I need company commanders more than I need acting executive officers.”

Katie nodded, “understood major. Don’t expect me to complain. I’d rather be where I’m at.”

Phil got a strange look on his face and then he said, “well in that case I need you to be acting executive officer.” Katie blinked. Phil remained monotone, “that was a joke.”

Katie nodded and then told him, “good to know you’re still in good spirits, sir. Will that be all?”

“Maybe,” Phil leaned closer to her and said in a low voice, “stick around for a minute.” Phil walked over to Kholer who came to a position of attention by reflex. Phil almost saluted but caught himself. Then Kholer said, “Major, I have… we have something you need to see.”

Phil looked at Sergeant Taylor and Lieutenant Vega and then asked, “not a wedding is it?”

“Huh?” Kholer was a young kid and not quite up on talking with superior officers just yet, “ I mean, um, sir.”

Over by the map table, Katie groaned, “you’re on a roll today Phil.”

Vega was tired of the crap. She stepped up and said, “Major, we have video you need to see.”

Now it was Phil’s turn to think he had just heard a joke. He thought about it, almost laughed, and then asked, “where did you get a drone from? We didn’t bring any.”

Ben stepped up now, “not a drone sir. We hardwired almost every helmet cam in our platoon, out past our fighting positions. We wanted to see what was really setting off our trip flares. We did.”

Phil studied his two soldiers, looked at the shit eating grin on Kholer, thought about what they had done, and then yelled across the room, “Captain Washburn, I think I found your missing com wire.”

Washburn looked up form behind his little fold out table and confusingly said, “sir?”

“Never mind,” Phil told the boy and then pointed to his Delta Company people, “show me what you got.” Taylor handed over the cell phone and Phil watched the video on the little screen. He seemed unimpressed. He then yelled back to Washburn, “Captain, fill out a requisition order for Delta Company, sixteen spools of comwire, then back date it two weeks. I’ll sign it later.”

Vega was not sure what kind of reaction she had expected but, this was not it. She stepped up again and pointed at the phone, “sir, you see what that is, right?”

“Yes I do Lieutenant,” Phil replied. “What do you want me to tell you? That you were right all along?”

What did Vega say to that? She figured it out quick, “yes sir, that would be a good start.”

“You are right Lieutenant,” Phil then said, “I wish you weren’t but, it appears as if you are. It also doesn’t surprise me one little bit.” He walked over to the map table and pointed to the latest updated intelligence. They had been slowly charting the area around the base since practically the first day they were here. Every day when the new observations could be entered in a computer, they would print out the new stuff and then start the whole thing over the next day.

Phil noted the grease pencil marks, “we’ve already had to collapse the perimeter since the stampede. One entire company is, for all practical purposes, combat ineffective. Overall, we’re down to under seventy percent strength. Our western defenses are destroyed and we don’t have time to repair them. Our air cover is gone and our chopper transports are at less than ten percent. That’s not counting our own artillery which is now preferring to shoot at us instead of the enemy.”

Vega became kind of twitchy as she asked, “what’s all that mean, for us I mean, sir?”

“What I’m saying, Lieutenant, is that when you consider all that, don’t expect me to be happy when you bring me proof positive of an enemy contact just outside our perimeter.”

Kholer mumbled, “well when you put it like that.”

Phil told them, “I’m going to be telling everybody within the hour. We’re going to abandon Nottakay. As the commander on the spot, it is my judgment that this position is no longer tenable.”

Katie had been half asleep till she heard that. Her head snapped up and she said, “sir? When did… OK, when are we leaving?”

Phil thought about it and then said, “just as soon as the transports get here.” He then spoke up, “all right everybody, we are re deploying, prepare to bug out. That means we start now. Pass the word down the chain.”

The TOC exploded in activity almost in an instant. Phil then looked to his Delta Company people and nodded to the door. As they walked out he stopped Vega and told her, “the Sergeant Major was right about you, Lieutenant. You’re doing a good job over on the line, keep it up.” Vega didn’t know what to say so she said nothing at all. She simply nodded to the Major and then left. Phil waited for a minute to make sure everyone was suitably busy. He did stop Katie before she left and then, with his eyes, told her to wait for him before she went back to her company.

A minute later, Phil and Ed Lewis joined her in the little meeting hole behind the TOC. Lewis noticed something about the outside, “is it just me or has it been getting darker lately?”

“It has,” Phil answered and then pointed up at Crummy Ass, “notice it’s been getting smaller? This is what they call a season change here.”

Katie then shrugged and said, “I got a company to move Phil, so, what’s up?”

“No you don’t,” Phil told her in his normal monotone way. When Katie looked confused he told her, “fortunately, one of the benefits of command is that you can lie sometimes and get away with it.”

“We’re,” Katie was really confused, “not leaving?”

The Sergeant Major told her the deal, “we’ve had a hard enough time getting the wounded out, not enough choppers. It’s going to take some time before we can start moving healthy bodies.”

Phil also noted, “not to mention we’d have to destroy most of our supplies in place, and right now, we might not be able too.”

Katie felt a shiver, “what? I don’t…”

“I got word about an hour ago,” Phil said, “this little problem with the elves has gotten worse. The entire country is almost in a state of civil war. We’re caught right in the middle and I don’t want to leave here unarmed. We may duck out of a fight with the Orcs and wind up having to shoot at our allies instead. Hard to do that without bullets.”

Lewis added, “the embassy is under siege, our base at Seau-Neaut hasn’t been re-supplied in days. They’ve already gone to rationing because they’re not expecting any more for the time being.”

Phil then added more, “that’s the real reason I sent Holman, and what was left of Alpha, back on that last flight. Seau-Neaut needs the extra firepower in case they’re attacked.”

“Oh my god,” Katie swallowed and then said, “what about RAF Merlin?”

Lewis shrugged, “we don’t know Captain. All we know is we’re on our own for now.”

“Colonel Isaacs,” Phil explained, “got word to us. He told me to do what I need to in order protect this command, all other priorities are now secondary. I have full authority to do what I see fit.”

“So,” this was a lot for Katie to digest all at once, “are we staying or going?”

“As soon as we can get everybody out, and the stuff we need,” Phil told her straight up. “Hopefully in less than three flights.”

Lewis was a bit more somber, “the only problem is, we don’t know when that’s going to be.”

Katie nervously nodded and replied, “understood, so what do you need from me?”

Phil sounded just as unemotional as he had about everything else, when he said, “assemble your strikers, draw up a plan, and sweep the trees east of the base, red sector, in Delta’s fire zone. Anything there that isn’t human, kill it.” As Katie walked off, Phil added, “Katie, this is why I left you where you were.”

No sooner had Katie vanished into the rapidly darkening landscape, Phil was confronted by a young female Lieutenant who snapped to attention and asked, “permission to go on the patrol, sir.”

Phil groaned at the West Pointer, “Lieutenant Sayers, were you ease dropping?”

Nichole Sayers remained very formal like when she replied, “sir no sir, I was doing as instructed by the Major.”

That caused Phil to have to think. What the hell had he told her to do? He didn’t remember and the only clue he had was, it had to have been an order to get her out of his hair. Why was he always dealing with this stupid shit? He decided not to deal with this particular problem any longer, “permission granted Lieutenant, report to Captain Mack.” Nichole opened her mouth and was about to protest when she realized what he had just said. Phil had to repeat it for her by pointing out, “I said yes Lieutenant, now go.”

When the little girl had run off, Ed Lewis was back to chomping on an unlit cigar. He just shook his head at Phil and asked, “what the hell did you do that for?”

Phil calmly replied, “I should say that she needs the experience and deserves the chance. We both know that’s crap. She’s got the biggest mouth in camp and I don’t want her running around telling everybody what we just said. Keeping her busy seemed like the best way to prevent that.”

Lewis laughed, “you just got blackmailed.”

Phil tossed that one around and then replied, “pretty much.”

None of which mattered to Nichole Sayers who reported to Captain Mack as instructed and found herself practically shunned. Katie protested and Nichole simply told her who had ordered it. Katie silently vowed to have a few words with Phil when this was done. She was too busy to worry about it at the moment. She decided that this was just another situation to handle and she did so by making sure that the young Lieutenant could not get anybody killed.

The first of her strikers, that walked by, was Specialist Foster and Katie grabbed his arm. She then pointed to Nichole and said, “stick to her like glue. If she makes a noise I want her mouth duct taped, clear?”

When the Captain was gone Gabe Foster smiled at the West Pointer and then whimsically asked, “you into that kinky shit Lieutenant? You know, duct tape?”

Sayers was not going to take this from a specialist. She gave him a stern look and, in return, all Foster did was pull out a roll of duct tape. Nichole gasped until Foster told her, “we have to tape down all your loose stuff. You’ll jingle like a reindeer at Christmas out there if we don’t.”

At that point, Nichole noticed that Foster’s gear was duct taped, including the belts of ammo he had slung over his shoulders. After Gabe was done fitting her gear he then took one of his ammo belts and dumped it on Nichole before calling over a private by the name of Scoggins. The guy was carrying one of those old time M-60 machine guns. It had the drum feeder and forward assist modifications so Nichole got confused, “why does he need these belts if…?”

Foster was too busy doing something else to hear her question the first time around. Nichole repeated it and then asked what he was doing right before Foster started pulling even more gear off of her vest and belt. Nichole protested a third time, “what are you doing Specialist!”

It was Scoggins, who was half laughing at her, who replied, “you don’t need all that crap eLtee. This is just a short hump out around the perimeter. Carry all the ammo you can, leave the rest.”

No sooner than Scoggins had finished saying that, Foster came back with two more belts of ammunition. He dumped one on Nichole and kept the other for himself. Nichole had to admit that at least he was being fair about it and the fact that he took more meant he was probably not fucking with her just because he could. Then he smiled at her and let it be known, “you’re lucky lieutenant, you got stuck with us.”

What? How was that lucky? Nichole was confused, “mind telling me why?”

Foster patted the fifty caliber rifle on his shoulder and then nodded to the M-60 that Scoggins had, “welcome to the artillery.” Foster then nodded to the little M-4 carbine she had and he told her, “that won’t stop jack shit out there. So just make sure we stay in ammo and we’ll do just fine.”

This was not how Nichole had seen her first patrol going down. She was not just an officer, she was a West Pointer! She was supposed to be giving the orders and leading, not being shook down by a Specialist and his pet Private! Then the First Sergeant arrived and told them, “rally point is down by the south avenue in one five.” He then looked Nichole over and told her, “you that West Point chick, right?”

Why was he calling her that? Nichole wanted to protest but the First Sergeant would not let her. He cut her off and said, “you get me killed out there and I garren-damn-tee your ass that there are some people in West Philly who will burn down your house, shave your cats, and make your little brother wear girls clothes to school, am I clear Lieutenant?”

Snake walked off without an answer and Nichole found that her two enlisted baby sitters were highly amused. Foster actually spoke up though, “don’t worry. He grows on you.”

He didn’t. Nichole found that she was now actually more scared of the First Sergeant than she was in going on this patrol. Then, as she sat at the rally point and listened to the briefing, by Captain Mack, she wondered if she had ever really been scared in the first place. Nichole realized that, just maybe, she had not been and wondered what was wrong with her. Then she wondered if she should have ever wondered? After all, this was what she had spent her entire adult life training for, not to mention most of her high school career.

Nichole had been that kid in school who was in every academic club, a few others on top of that, always made honor roll, and graduated Valedictorian. She had excelled at sports, been active in civic events, and had even done a stint as a congressional page in the summer of her junior year. No one had ever had to tell Nichole that she was a shinning star amongst her peers, she just always knew it. That was how she got into West Point in the first place.

Of course once she was at the country’s, if not the worlds, most premier military academy, it was no longer so easy for her. Nichole quickly found out she was nothing special in that group and, she found out, every trick she knew about how to be on top no longer worked. She had to relearn everything but, Nichole had confidence in herself and she did just that. By the time she graduated, from the point she was in the top twenty of her class and, considering the competition, Nichole had to figure that was no small achievement.

That was why her head was spinning. Why were these people so determined to keep shoving her out of the way? Didn’t they know she was an asset? Didn’t they know she would be an up and coming star in this organization? She was supposed to be hear to get her feet wet and everybody kept pointing to the ‘no swimming’ sign! Now that she had actually wormed her way on to a real patrol, what she had spent every second of the last few years training for, they were acting like she was a first summer plebe!

Nichole stopped thinking about it as the patrol began to snake it’s way out of the perimeter but, one lingering question remained. She was wondering why she was not at least the executive patrol leader here. From all that Nichole could see, First Sergeant Sun was actually doing that job. Nichole wondered what the hell that was all about! Why wasn’t Captain Mack using Nichole in a more proper way?

Then, Nichole’s ideas about command ceased, when Foster put his hand on her shoulder and guided her with no small amount of force. He did whisper in her ear, quite rudely, “put your feet in the same spot as the guy in front of you!”

That was something Nichole felt like arguing about until she saw the trip line that led to a claymore mine. She quietly mouthed, “oh shit.” They were in the perimeter’s outer defense zone! Why were they here? Nichole had heard Captain Mack say that they were sweeping the base perimeter but, she had just assumed they would be doing it outside the area where all of the mines had been placed!

Then came the halt. Nichole watched hands go up and it rolled down the line like a wave at a football game. It was followed by a hand signal she did not recognize. Again, Foster grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her along to some convenient cover. Nichole was not so impressed with it. It was a depression that was obviously made by a rotted out root or something like that. The roots to these trees were sometimes as big around as entire buildings! Nichole felt nearly naked in the hole and she began piling up rocks in front of her.

Foster reached over and knocked her little pile down while giving her an ‘eat shit’ look. Then came another set of hand signals and Nichole wondered how Foster could even see them. It was darker out here than it had been since she first stepped through the Dell. Nichole had brought her nigh vision and she wondered if she might not use it. Then she decided against that because Foster might chastise her again! It would be silent but, it would still be getting dressed down by an enlisted man!

Then Nichole watched Foster use two fingers to point to his eyes. He followed that up by pointing in a certain direction. Nichole knew that meant he saw something and she moved to get a better look. Foster pushed her back down and then slapped Scoggins on the shoulder. The private quickly trained his machinegun in the direction that Foster had pointed. Nichole was starting to get angry and scared, all at the same time. She was also, strangely enough, excited! All the boredom, the menial tasks, everything she had been subjected too since coming here, suddenly faded from her mind. A little smile formed on her lips.

The smile vanished and Nichole’s jaw dropped open. She felt pain in her ears as the sharp, mind numbing, crack of some large weapon bounced around the trees. That crack might have been a solo affair but, the unique noise did not remain so for very long. The entire forest erupted in a sheet of fire, with a rumble so loud it shook the very ground she was hugging. Nichole found herself hugging it even harder as the seconds ticked by, each seeming like an eternity.

The M-60, almost next to Nichole’s head, roared to life a moment later and Scoggins was yelling, “contact right!” Foster swung the muzzle of his cannon over in that direction, adjusted his sights, and then the Barret rifle roared with a single crack that felt as if it cut Nichole’s body in half. All the while, the only thing she had really seen were tracer rounds flying in every direction. What the hell was going on?

Several flares flew up into the sky and seemed almost a contradiction to what was going on beneath them. They looked beautiful as they sparkled and seemed to just gently float on the air. It was so peaceful compared to the hell on the ground. Nichole found her eyes fixated on them. Then a sequential roar, quite different from all of the shooting, drowned out every other sound. Nichole had no idea what it was. All she knew was that, when it was over, an arid and quite sickening smoke was drifting over them. Then Nichole woke up and went for her protective mask, yelling, “GAS! GAS! GAS!” She was horrified to discover that her mask was not where it should be! Foster had dumped it for her, back in camp!

Then, like a bad dream, Foster’s face appeared in front of her. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, “it’s not gas you fucking idiot! Something just tripped off a string of claymores now shoot! Shoot!”

Nichole realized she had not even touched the safety on her weapon, let alone touched the trigger. It seemed like it took forever to move the selector switch to semi auto. Then she rolled over next to Scoggins and looked down the sight of her weapon. All she saw was smoke, brush, big roots jutting out of the ground, and nothing else that made much sense to her dazzled mind. She still had Foster screaming at her, “shoot! Shoot!”

Nichole began squeezing off rounds into the forest. She was pretty sure she was not hitting a thing but, she kept right on firing. Then someone, probably Scoggins, slapped her helmet hard. Only then did Nichole realize that the fire was dying down. The roar had become lone pops and she had the strangest thought. Why were her ears no longer ringing? The shooting no longer hurt? She put that aside and worked on controlling her breathing before asking, “what just happened?”

No one answered her. The distant sound of deep rumbling booms caused her two comrades to yell, “incoming!” They scurried for the lowest point they could find, and kept their faces in the dirt. Nichole decided to join them and even before she could, the ground shook so violently that it actually kicked her off of it twice. That was all Nichole’s body could take. Her eyes began to water uncontrollably. Each explosion felt like it was ripping her body in half. All of those sensations combined with the arid smell in the air, along with another putrid odor of unknown origin. With burning chunks of debris falling around her, Nichole Sayers threw up.

A moment later Foster actually pushed her back down in her own vomit. Nichole did not even think to complain since this is where she had to lay in their little depression. Everything in the forest seemed quiet now. There was no shooting, there was no movement, Nichole could not even see anything around them. She huffed and between breaths she asked, “are they shelling us?”

Scoggins sounded quite scared and he squealed, “that was ours.”

Foster, on the other hand, almost seemed too calm as he told her, “that was our mortar section. That’s what those green and yellow flares were for.”

Nichole mouthed off the words, “son of a bitch.” She had heard that the Orc artillery was ten times bigger than theirs. Given how much their own little peashooters had just done to her body, Nichole suddenly realized she did not want to be on the receiving end of anything else out here. She exclaimed, “those were ours?”

“Shut up,” Foster said as he tuned his ear to what was going on around him. He heard words coming down their line and he answered those words in kind. Nichole’s head was still spinning and she was not even sure what he had said. How did he do that? Then came something that made even Foster nervous. At first it sounded like a huge fart but, then Nichole realized it was, what? A creature moaning? Was it another dinosaur? She nearly panicked when she blurted out, “what the hell is that?”

Again Foster just snapped at her, “shut up and listen!” After a minute he said, “some kind of horn I think, maybe.”

Nichole demanded, “you don’t know?!”

“Never heard anything like that before,” Foster told her.

Scoggins was not so concerned about the horn as he was, “we’re not moving guys. We’re supposed to be moving.”

Foster took a quick peek around and ducked just as the sound of a freight train roared over their heads. Nichole screamed but caught herself and kept it short. She then realized she had just peed in her pants, literally. She was still gasping for air as she snarled, “what the fuck was that?!”

The only good news was that, at least, Foster and Scoggins did not seem too concerned about it. Foster quietly told her, “Orc staff weapon.” He then made a few calculations, “ok guys, Delta’s line is just right up that hill. There’s trip lines and booby traps between us and them. If anything happens, if everything goes to shit, bug out for their holes. Make sure you give a clear identifier or they’ll blow you away. I’m pretty sure all this shooting rattled them too.”

The horn things began echoing in the forest once more, only, this time, they were very close and horrifically loud. Nichole worked the safety on her weapon one more time and looked down the sights. The entire forest looked like it was moving! It was like a mass of shadows that were floating right at her. Nichole pulled the trigger to shoot at all these ghosts and nothing happened! She panicked just as the ground shook violently once more. Dirt start falling around her and Nichole began sliding, uncontrollably towards the bottom of the depression. The ground itself felt like it was swallowing her hole! There was nothing she could do about it! She screamed but no one heard her. The supernatural sound of a loud snap, that vibrated everything around her, drowned out even the explosions of impacting mortar rounds. Nichole was pretty sure she was dead. She gave up.